MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon. I want to begin with one
announcement to update on the President's schedule, and then make a few comments on today's events in Lebanon.

The President will welcome Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, the
Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, to the White House on
March 16th. The Cardinal was respected throughout Lebanon and around
the world for his religious leadership and for promoting intra-communal
harmony among the different faiths in his country, and is an important
voice of Lebanese independence, freedom and democracy. So the President looks forward to that visit on March 16th.

With regards to Lebanon and the developments there today, we are
closely watching developments with great interest. The resignation of
the Karami government represents an opportunity for the Lebanese people
to have a new government that is truly representative of their
country's diversity. The new government will have the responsibility of
implementing free and fair elections that the Lebanese people have
clearly demonstrated they desire. We believe the process of a new
government should proceed in accordance with the Lebanese constitution
and should be free of all foreign interference. It is time for Syria to
fully comply with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559. That
means Syrian military forces and intelligence personnel need to leave
the country. That will help ensure the elections are free and fair.

And with that, I will be glad to go to your questions.

Q Scott, when you take all of this together -- the resignation of
the government today, Syria's apparent capture and handover of Saddam
Hussein's half-brother, Syria's declaration last week that it was going
to pull troops back closer to its border -- do you see this as being
some small steps on the part of Syria to try to show its goodwill
toward the United States and Europe, in light of some of the pretty
strong comments that you've been making in the past few weeks?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, first of all, on the capture of Saddam
Hussein's half-brother, I'm going to let the coalition forces and the
Iraqi authorities speak to that. They have made some public comments
about it; they have not gotten into any of the specifics relating to
that at this point. And I don't want to get in front of what they are
saying from the ground there in Iraq. There are reasons for that
oftentimes, so I want to state that first.

In terms of our concerns with Syria, I just expressed some of our
continuing concerns regarding Syria, particularly when it comes to
Lebanon, and they need to comply with their international obligations,
the obligation of the United Nations Security Council that calls on all
those in Lebanon, all those foreign entities in Lebanon, to leave
Lebanon.

Q Again, regardless of who's speaking to what, a couple of these
moves that Syria has made in the past few days, do you see this as
being -- as sort of reaching out to the United States, or do you think
they're just trying to get some of the heat off?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the President has spoken about the concerns he
has when it comes to Syria. He laid those out very clearly. There are
several concerns we have with regards to Syria. We have concerns about
their continuing support for terrorism, namely Hezbollah. We have
concern about Syria allowing terrorist organizations to operate within
their territory. We have concerns about regime elements operating from
Syrian territory. And we've expressed those concerns. We have concerns
about Syria's interference in Lebanon's internal affairs, and we will
see by their actions if they're committed to changing their behavior.

Go ahead, Terry.

Q Scott, these are remarkable scenes we're witnessing in Beirut. Is
this a domino falling? Does this show the President's strategy is
vindicated and confirmed and right?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the President has often spoken about how all
people desire to live in freedom. I think you're seeing today in
Lebanon that the Lebanese people are clearly demonstrating their desire
to have a free and independent future, free from outside interference.
And we continue to see the Lebanese people standing up and speaking out
for their desire to live in freedom, and that's why we made the
comments -- that's why I made the comments I did at the beginning of
the briefing.

Q Can I follow up?

Q Is this a vindication of the Iraq strategy that the President set
out? Is this a domino falling in the Middle East?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think that you're seeing across the world --
most notably in the Middle East -- that democracy and freedom are on
the march. The Iraqi people demonstrated their desire to live in
freedom and peace when they went to the polls in overwhelming numbers
and showed their courage and determination to defy those who want to
return to the past, the terrorists.

And I think you're seeing in other parts of the Middle East that
there is a commitment to moving forward on democratic reforms. You're
seeing that with regards to the Palestinian territories. The
Palestinian people want a future that is built on a free and democratic
and viable state. And you have a leadership now that is committed to
helping them realize that vision that the President outlined.

Q Are you seeing that in Egypt, with President Mubarak's
statement?

MR. McCLELLAN: We welcome the commitment by President Mubarak that
he made to move forward on elections that would allow for more than one
candidate to participate in those elections. We will see, through the
implementation of the reforms that were announced, the commitment to
moving forward on that.

Q Has the President ever issued an order against torture of
prisoners? And do we still send prisoners to Syria to be tortured?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President has stated publicly that we do not
condone torture and that he would never authorize the use of torture.
He has made that --

Q But has he issued an order?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- statement very publicly, and he's made it clear
to everybody in the government that we do not torture.

Q Well, why do we still hear these stories then?

MR. McCLELLAN: If there are allegations of wrongdoing, then the
President expects those allegations to be fully investigated and if
there is actual wrongdoing that occurs, then people need to be held to
account. The President has made that very clear.

Q Well, do you deny that we still send prisoners to other countries
to be tortured? Is that a denial?

MR. McCLELLAN: Judge Gonzales testified previously that we have an
obligation not to render people to countries that we know would torture
them.

Q He did not rule out torture.

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead, David.

Q Scott, you said this morning that for Iran, ascension to the WTO
is now on the table in exchange for something, presumably ultimately
abandoning their nuclear weapons designs. What's changed the
President's mind? Why is he now prepared to maybe take such a step,
when Europeans have been at this for some time, and wanting the U.S. to
get more engaged?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you're asking me to speculate about decisions
that haven't been made. And I want to correct you, I don't think that's
exactly what I said this morning. What I said this morning was what we
had indicated last week, as well, that the President is considering
ideas that were discussed last week in Europe for moving forward on our
efforts to get Iran to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and abandon
its nuclear weapons ambitions.

Q That's one of the options. I think we all know that's one of the
options.

MR. McCLELLAN: There are ideas that have been discussed publicly by
the Europeans. The President had very good discussions with our
European friends about how we can move forward toward our shared goal
of getting Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons program. And so the --

Q Well, but the question is what's changed, because, I mean, all of
this was -- has been in place for some time. It didn't just take going
to meet the Europeans face-to-face for him to really be convinced of
this. So I'm trying to get a sense of what has changed in the
President's mind, that he is willing to potentially go down a different
road.

MR. McCLELLAN: We have always supported the efforts by our European
friends to get Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions. We want
to see them succeed in those efforts. And we have seen that over the
last several months that Iran is now providing more information to the
International Atomic Energy Agency. They're providing greater access to
the International Atomic Energy Agency. That is an organization which
we are a member of, and we work very closely with all the other 30-some
members of that organization, in addition to working with our European
friends.

The President had very good discussions last week. The European-3,
as they are referred to, have continued to have discussions with
Iranian authorities over the course of the last year. Those discussions
have been moving forward. And so we have been discussing our concerns
with Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, in addition to our concerns
about Iran's behavior in general, its behavior when it comes to
supporting terrorism, and its behavior when it comes to refusing to
allow its own people to have the freedoms that they seek.

And I think there's a broader recognition on the part of the
international community that the concerns are not only about their
pursuit of nuclear weapons, but their treatment of their own people and
their support for terrorism.

Q I'm sorry, I'm just trying to pin you down. It's not clear to me
in that answer what has happened that's convinced the President to
stand closer to the EU-3 strategy than he had previously.

MR. McCLELLAN: We've always stayed in close contact with our
European friends on these issues. Like I said, we want to see their
efforts succeed. We all have a shared goal that Iran does not acquire a
nuclear weapon. That's something we all share. And we want to make sure
that Iran abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions.

And we've been supportive of those efforts. We've continued to stay
in close contact with them. The President had a number of meetings last
week where we discussed these issues. We talked about the progress that
has been made in some of those discussions. And we talked about how we
can move forward to accomplish that shared goal.

And so the President was very much in a listening mode during some
of those meetings. He listened to some of the ideas for how we can move
forward together, and the President is now considering some of those
ideas that were discussed. I'm not going to speculate about any
decisions that have yet to be made at this point. I think it's
something we can talk further about once decisions are made. But that's
where it stands at this point.

Q Can I follow up on that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Tom, did you have something?

Q Yes. You seem to indicate a flexibility, in terms of incentives,
but is anything off the table? For instance, one of the suggestions was
that the United States participate directly in these negotiations,
joining the three European countries. Is that something that is being
considered, or is that off the table?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think the President addressed that last
week. We need to keep the focus on Iran. It's their behavior that needs
to change. Iran's behavior needs to change when it comes to their
interest in nuclear weapons. Iran's behavior needs to change when it
comes to the treatment of their own people and their aspirations to
have more of a say over their own government; their aspirations for
greater --

Q That doesn't involve --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- for greater freedoms. But the President addressed
this issue on a couple of occasions just last week. Nothing has
changed, in terms of his view on that issue. And we can sit here and
try to go through hypothetical decisions that have yet to be made, but
I think it's best, let's let those decisions be made and then we can
discuss it at that point.

Q But in terms of the U.S. participating directly in the talks, is
that something that's under review, as well, as any other things?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President addressed that last week, and there's
no change in terms of what he said last week on that.

Go ahead, Wendell.

Q How much was the President -- how much did it play a part in the
President's thinking about this President's apparent openness to
incentives that European countries convinced him that they, too,
believe that it's intolerable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon? That's
one. And the second question is, the IAEA is about to give what one
official of the agency calls a modestly positive report -- a report
card on Iran tomorrow, in Vienna. Does the U.S., as a member of the
board, agree with that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Agree with what?

Q That Iran should get a modestly positive report card?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I mean, let's let the report come out and then
we can talk about that report at that time. Those discussions --
they're meeting right now and having discussions. We have
representatives that are there on behalf of the United States
government. I'm not going to jump ahead of what has yet to be reported
at this point.

Q All right. The President's decision-making then, was it -- was it
swayed by Europe convincing him that they basically share a common
agreement --

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me make clear that the policy is the same. We
all have a shared goal of making sure Iran does not acquire a nuclear
weapon. That's something we all share. We're all speaking with the
same voice. Iran needs to abide by its international obligations. They
need to come clean and they need to end their pursuit of nuclear
weapons. We've made that very clear. What we are doing is continuing to
talk with our European friends about the best way forward for
addressing this issue and accomplishing our shared goal. And those are
discussions that were had at length last week with representatives --
with the leaders of those countries who are involved in those
discussions with Iran. We very much support their efforts. But the
focus needs to be on Iran and its behavior, and that's where the focus
needs to remain.

Q One more. Before the trip, Ambassador Bruton said that the idea
of taking Iran to the U.N. Security Council over this is really not an
option. Did the President hear that from European leaders last week?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we are still in the early diplomatic stages of
this effort. We've expressed our views when it comes to Iran's
continued defiance of its international obligations in the past, and
our support for it being referred to the Security Council.

But the President went last week to Europe, had very good
discussions about a number of areas where we can work together on a
common agenda, first and foremost spreading the advance of -- spreading
democracy and freedom. And when it comes to Iran, there are a number of
discussions about where we stand with regards to Iran and its interest
in nuclear weapons. And there was a lot of discussion about how we move
forward together on our shared goal. And the President is thinking
through some of the ideas that were mentioned last week, and thinking
about what the next steps are for how we move forward to accomplish
that shared goal. That's where we stand on this point.

Go ahead, I'm sorry.

Q I'm not hearing an answer to my question.

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead.

Q Did the President hear from Europeans that he really doesn't have
the option of taking Iran before the U.N. Security Council? The support
is not there to impose tougher sanctions.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think that that's been addressed in previous
International Atomic Energy Agency meetings, and they would be the ones
that would make that referral. What we're doing right now is talking
about how we move forward to accomplish this shared goal, and what Iran
needs to do. The focus needs to remain on Iran and its behavior, and
that's where our focus will remain. We're going to continue working
very closely with our European friends to accomplish this shared goal.

Q On Lebanon, is the President prepared to back up his words with
any actions to ensure a free and a fair election there?

MR. McCLELLAN: We will do everything we can to support the Lebanese
people. I think you have seen that through our discussions with the
French. We've worked very closely with the French on this issue, where
we both share a common concern. We both are committed to seeing
Security Council resolutions complied with. We are both committed to
seeing Lebanon be sovereign, independent and free from outside
interference. We are fully committed to supporting free and fair
elections that would be free from outside interference. So, absolutely,
we will -- and it's an issue that I expect we will continue to stay in
close contact with our French counterparts on.

Q I'm just curious -- I know it just happened, but did the
President watch anything that is going on? Did he see the pictures of
what's happening --

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think he saw -- when I walked in there,
there wasn't TV on, but he certainly was briefed on the demonstrations
that were going on in Lebanon.

Q Is there any reaction from him --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think the reaction is what I said. And
that's why I also made the point that it's time for Syria to comply
with Security Council resolutions.

Q And just to follow up, to sort of come at what Terry was trying
to ask in a different way. Specifically on Lebanon, to what does the
White House ascribe what you're seeing there, exactly?

MR. McCLELLAN: The desire for the Lebanese people to live in
freedom. You're seeing the Lebanese people stand up and speak out in a
very clear way that they want to determine their future free from
outside, foreign interference. And that's what you're seeing. The
Lebanese people are standing up and speaking out. I think that the
attack that took place recently and led to the assassination of the
former prime minister was horrific, and I think it demonstrated the
importance of allowing Lebanon to be free from outside interference.

Q Scott, when you were discussing Iran before, the first time I
heard you say that you thought that Iran was beginning to comply more
fully with the IAEA. On the other hand, over the weekend we've all been
hearing that they only turned over documents relating to their 1987
acquisition when confronted once again with evidence. How do you square
these two positions? Do you see a change in their --

MR. McCLELLAN: Our view is that we expect full compliance. You have
seen --

Q And you're seeing greater compliance?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- some steps taken, where they are starting to
provide more information to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and
where they're starting to provide greater access. There is much more
that needs to be done. It's very clear what they need to do to live up
to their international obligations.

Q And does that include, in your mind, opening up all military
sites to foreign inspection?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think that they've indicated that they would
provide some access to the International Atomic Energy Agency. We want
to see full compliance and full transparency when it comes to their
nuclear weapons program.

Q Scott, the -- Dick Armey, the former congressman, made a speech
where he was talking -- commenting on the President's calls with
evangelicals. How often does the President have these conference calls
with evangelicals, and what's the nature of them?

MR. McCLELLAN: How often? I'll have to check. I'm not sure exactly
what he was referring to. I'll be glad to check into it. But we stay in
close contact with a number of people that -- across the political
spectrum, and certainly, that is one community that we stay in close
contact with, and we appreciate all their support for the President's
agenda. But I'll be glad to look into it. I mean, a number of those, I
think, were probably referring to staff level contacts.

Q This said the President, so --

MR. McCLELLAN: The President meets with people from all different
religious backgrounds on a fairly regular basis. In fact, one of the
things he'll be doing tomorrow is attending the leadership conference
for his faith-based and community initiative. You're going to have
leaders from across the United States representing faith-based and
community-based organizations that are helping people in need, and the
President is very much committed to building upon the great progress we
have made to reach out to faith-based and community organizations to
help people in need. And so he looks forward to attending that
conference tomorrow.

John, go ahead.

Q Okay. This morning I mis-spoke when I said that Senate Majority
Leader Frist had said that he was against raising caps on the level of
payroll taxes to pay for Social Security reform. I mis-read his press
release, and he takes the same position as the President, which is
everything is on the table, except raising the rates for the payroll
taxes. Has the President talked to the Majority Leader since this
issue first came up, about what is on and off the table on February
14th, and has he spoken with leaders in the House on it, as well?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think Congress has just -- well, Congress is just
coming back into session this week. I'm not aware of any additional
discussions he has had with the Majority Leader, beyond some of the
recent ones -- I think probably prior to our trip to Europe. Obviously,
our staff -- our legislative staff, in particular -- stays in close
contact with the leadership and those offices on these issues.

I think the President has made it very clear that we need to work
together to find a bipartisan solution to save and strengthen Social
Security for future generations. The President believes it's important
that we all recognize that there are serious problems facing Social
Security, that there are serious financial challenges facing Social
Security. And he welcomes all ideas that are being expressed for
solving the problem. We've expressed our views and our principles for
moving forward to strengthen Social Security. We want to hear from
others what their ideas are, as well.

I think you see in survey after survey that the American people
recognize there are serious problems facing Social Security. Social
Security is unsustainable over the long haul. That's why we need to act
now to strengthen it. And the President is not going to get into
commenting on every idea that is discussed or every idea that is
mentioned for solving the problem. He's going to say, I welcome those
ideas and let's talk about how we can find a bipartisan way to solve
this problem.

Q Scott, can we go back to Iran for a second. Apparently, the deal
that Russia made with Iran to sell Iran nuclear fuel is on, at least, a
temporary hold. The press report said that a meeting with the President
and Russia's Putin didn't go very well, that the President was not able
to talk him out of the deal. And, yet, since it is on hold, have there
been further talks --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I don't know that that's an accurate
description of their meeting, first of all. I'm not sure how much that
issue actually came up in the discussions.

Q Has there been any attempt, then, on the part of the President
since Europe, or anybody else in the administration to convince Russia
not to go through with that deal to sell uranium to Iran?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't have any update beyond what we've said
previously. Russia has previously assured us that no nuclear fuel
should be delivered to Iran until Iran comes into compliance with its
international obligations and that any spent nuclear fuel must be
returned to Russia. They've previously provided those assurances to us.
And we've also made it clear it's important that Iran ratify and adhere
to the additional protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
We believe the fuel take-back is important to reducing any
proliferation concerns, and Russia has worked to build such protections
into its agreement with Iran. So that's something that they have
previously assured us about.

We have continuing concerns, as we have publicly stated, about
Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear
program. We've expressed those concerns publicly. Russia is someone
that shares the concern of the international community that Iran should
not be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapon. We are all working
together toward that shared goal.

And that's what you're seeing in these discussions that took place
last week. That's what you're seeing in our consideration of some of
the ideas that were brought forward by our European friends for how we
move forward toward that shared goal. Ultimately it's going to be on
Iran to change its behavior and end its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Q And do you actually trust the Russians on this?

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead, Goyal.

Q Scott, if President has seen the report issued by the State
Department this morning, global violation of human rights. It blames or
accuses China and Saudi Arabia, including many other countries,
violators of human rights this year.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, in fact we've been talking about some of these
very issues at the beginning of the briefing. But promoting human
rights and human dignity are at the foundation of our foreign policy.
Democracy and freedom and human rights are on the advance, and
democracy is the best way to guarantee human rights and human dignity
for all. And that's why the President has been such a strong proponent
of advancing freedom and democracy.

Q Second, the former President George Bush and Bill Clinton, they
were on tsunami -- they were promoting how to help the tsunami victims,
and they raised millions of dollars. And now President Clinton is in
Taiwan. Were they or President Clinton carrying any message or carrying
any message from the President Bush?

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me check and see if there's anything to add to
that. We've obviously expressed our views in terms -- when it comes to
China and Taiwan, and our position remains the same. We also continue
to encourage cross-strait dialogue between the countries as the best
way to resolving some of the issues that remain.

Q The governors, since they've come to town, have talked a lot
aboutMedicaid. In the question and answer with the President today,
did they talk about Medicaid, and did the President give them any
assurances or any --

MR. McCLELLAN: Medicaid did come up. First of all, Medicaid is an
important program for providing health care for millions of low-income
Americans, particularly our children. And this administration is
strongly committed to making sure Medicaid is working the way it is
intended to work, and getting care to those who need it. The governors,
I think, expressed a view that they want to work with us to move
forward on some smart ways to reform Medicaid and make sure that it's
working the way that it was intended.

The President -- the governors, I think, very much appreciate our
efforts to provide them more flexibility when it comes to Medicaid. And
I would point out that when it comes to the Medicaid program that
spending on Medicaid is going to continue to grow over the next 10
years; it's going to grow at about 7.2 percent a year for the next 10
years. And when you put that in terms of dollars, we're talking about
spending nearly $5 trillion on Medicaid over the next decade. But
because of some accounting gimmicks that have been used and some
loopholes that have been exploited, Medicaid is putting some tight
constraints on our budgeting process.

And the President believes we need to move forward to reform
Medicare and strengthen it, so that those who it is intended to help
are getting the care that they need, and also that we're giving
governors the flexibility that they need to provide health care to more
people with the dollars that are available. We want them to be able to
expand that coverage and cover more people.

That's why under this administration you've seen us provide waivers
to states that have extended Medicaid coverage to 2.6 million people
since 2001. And I think that's an important step toward our ultimate
objective.

And we're working very closely with the governors. Secretary
Leavitt is having good discussions with the governors about how we can
move forward together on these reforms. And that's where it stands at
this point. But, yes, there were a couple of questions that came up on
it, and that was kind of the spirit in which it was discussed, that we
all understand some of the challenges facing Medicare, and that's why
we need to work together as we move forward to implement some smart
reforms.

Go ahead, Roger.

Q In connection with Medicaid, there were some reports this morning
that there was an apparent effort to get some sort of compromise
between the White House and governors by week's end on that. Do you
know anything about that? One, is that accurate? And --

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know about any timeline. I know that
Secretary Leavitt has remained in close contact with the governors.
He's been our point person on this issue, as the head of the Health and
Human Services Department, and he continues to be in close contact with
the governors on those matters.

Q But there's no deadline or anything like that --

MR. McCLELLAN: You can check with Secretary Leavitt's office to see
--

Q And the other question I had was the President, in his remarks
this morning to the governors, said that he wanted to expand the number
of children available getting Medicaid benefits. But he didn't say how
he might pay for that.

MR. McCLELLAN: It's our Cover the Kids program. It's something that
we outlined in the budget, the President strongly supports. And that's
making sure that those who qualify are enrolled in the program. The
Cover the

Kids would be to extend S-CHIP to children. We enrolled an
additional one million children in the S-CHIP program since 2001, and
now the President, in his budget, wants to commit an additional $1
billion to cover even more children, and that's how he's talking about
doing it.

Q Where does that money come from?

MR. McCLELLAN: It's in our budget. You can go and look at where
that money --

Q Is there any offsetting decrease elsewhere, or is it just
increase?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'll go look at our budget and try to get you that
information.

Bob, go ahead.

Q Scott, in Iraq today, reportedly scores have been killed by a
suicide bomber. I'm wondering, first off, if you have any reaction to
that. Secondly, during the trip -- more to the point, during the trip,
did the President come away with anything really concrete from the
allies, in terms of helping bear the burden of securing Iraq at this
point?

MR. McCLELLAN: From the trip?

Q Yes.

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, you should look at some of the comments that
were made. In fact, there was an agreement with the European Union that
we would support an international conference on Iraq, if it was
requested by the Iraqi leadership, to talk about additional ways that
we can support the Iraqi people as they move forward.

In terms of the attack today, we condemn this attack in the
strongest possible terms. It was an attack on innocent Iraqi civilians.
The terrorists who carry out these attacks are the enemies of the Iraqi
people and the enemies of their aspirations for a free and peaceful
future. We are continuing to work closely with Iraqi security forces to
bring to justice the terrorists and former regime elements who seek to
derail the transition to democracy. They will be brought to justice.
They will be defeated. The Iraqi people have shown, through their
courage and determination, that they want to live in freedom. And we
stand with the Iraqi people as they seek to build a free and peaceful
future.

Q Is the administration concerned or anxious that Russian -- the
Russian deal with Iran on the fuel and -- nuclear fuel and Russia's
sale of missiles to Syria is hampering western efforts to put pressure
on both countries?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, in terms of the agreement with Iran on the
nuclear fuel that would be provided to the Bushehr reactor, we're still
waiting to learn about the details of that agreement. That's why I
pointed out earlier today that Russia had provided assurances to us
about how they would go about that agreement. And I think that's
important to note when we're talking about this issue. But you can
understand our skepticism when it comes to Iran's nuclear program,
because Iran has vast amounts of oil. And we don't see a need for Iran
to develop such a broad civilian nuclear program. That's why we are
concerned that they are trying to develop nuclear weapons under the
cover of that civilian nuclear program.

Q So there is a concern, then, that the fuel deal could, in some
way, inhibit --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, but Russia talked about the protections that
would be built into the agreement, that -- and that's why I said that
fuel being taken back to Russia is important to providing protections
against that fuel being used for purposes other than what it's intended
for.

Q Okay, and what about missile sales to Syria?

MR. McCLELLAN: We've expressed our concerns on that issue. I'm not
sure that anything is final at this point. We would hope that Russia
would continue to use its influence to urge Syria to abide by the
Security Council resolutions and get out of Lebanon.